Manufacture of dag-uerreotype-cases



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL PECK, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

V MANUFACTURE OF DAGUERREOTYPE-CASES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,758, dated October 3, 1854.

T0 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL Peck, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Daguerreotype Picture Cases or BoXes from Composition of which Shellac Constitutes the Base; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and accompanying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof..

Of the said drawings, Figure l, represents an inside view of a daguerreotype case constructed in accordance with my improve ment. Fig. 2, is a transverse section of the same.

The composition of which the main body of the case is made, and to which my invention is applicable, is composed of gum shellac and woody bers or other suitable iibrous material dyed to the color that may be required and ground with the shellac and between hot rollers so as to be converted into a mass which when heated becomes plastic so that it can be pressed into a mold or between dies and made to take the form that may be imparted to it by such dies.

In manufacturing cases for daguerreot-ype cases, I usually apply to the face of one, on the opposite faces of both of the dies a sheet of thick paper or thin paste board and so that, when the dies are forced together so as to form the half of a case or box, the said paper or paste-board shall be made to adhere to and line the entire surface against which it is pressed by the die.

In the figures above mentioned, particularly in Fig. 2, this layer or sheet of paper is shown as applied both to the inner and outer surfaces of the half or part, A, B, of a daguerreotype case. W'ithin the cover or that part A, which receives the cushion, it is not carried up the sides of the space in which the cushion is inserted as it is in the part B, (as seen at b, 5,) which is intended to receive the band by which the glass and picture are supported in the frame. I have discovered that paper by simple pressure may be combined or made to adhere to this composition with a iirmness which renders it impossible with any ordinary means to readily detach it from the part to which it is applied and that if said paper be gilded and burnished previous to its application, the whole impression of the mold or such `of burnishing the figure after its formation would not only be attended with toomuch labor where the articles were of little value but would more or less destroy the beauty or sharpness of the impression of the die.

By my process of gilding sheets of paper or other equivalent material, and burnishing the same and then applying such paper so gilded and burnished, and with its burnished side directly against the surface of the die and compressing said paper upon a plastic composition of the kind above stated not only can I produce a beautiful burnished gilt impression of the die, but such paper is made to combine with the composition in such manner as to add great strength to it and prevent it from being cracked or broken while in use. Such paper becomes so inseparably connected with the material or composition as to render it impossible for any ordinary atmospheric changes to detach it therefrom. When fixed to the inner side of the -daguerreotype case, it enables me to glue or attach either the cushion or band thereto as they may be glued or cemented directly to the said paper, whereas, were they attempted to be glued to the fibrous shellac composition itself, they would not adhere thereto with any degree of strength on account of its nonporous nature, a very little expansion or contraction of them produced by an ordinary change of temperature would cause them to be detached from the material.

A daguerreotype picture case `or box formed of the shellac composition above set forth, and strengthened by the application of paper to it in the manner above described becomes a very durable and substantial article in comparison to one made without the application of paper or its equivalent material.

I am aware that boxes have been made of paper or pasteboard glued or cemented to their surfaces: Itherefore do not claimithe mere application of paper by such means, but-What I do claim is the improvement in the manufacture of picture cases or articles from a composition of shellac and fibrous material as above described the same constrength to the article so made;

' I claim"- l. The Improvement of ornamenting'the surfaces of the impression-of the die with burnished gold, in manner substantially as set forth, the same consisting in Vapplying., the gold to the surface of thesheetof paper or its equivalent, burnishing it while on said surface and laying the said burnished surface in contact with the surface of the die, and pressing said paper and the plastic composition together and into the die so as to force the burnished gilding, paper and composition upon it and produce the result as hereinbefore specified.

2. I also claim the extension of the paper up the inner surfaces of the sides of the case andby means of pressure in the mold, the same being for thepurpose of enabling me Yto aiTiX to the side the velvet covered frame for the supportof thepicture, the mat and Y the glass thereof.

l In testimony whereof vI have hereunto kset myy signature this twelfth day of July A. D. 185i;y y I e SAMUEL PECK.

Witnesses:

S.' RANsoM, Y Y It.v FITZGERALD, 

